What's Happening?

Fernando Brandao, my current private instructor, assigned me a transcription two weeks ago. What I have here is half of Peter Guidi's solo over "Weaver of Dreams". It's a great solo for beginning transcriptions: easy pace, nice tempo, familiar chords. But it gets more difficult in the third and fourth choruses, which is why I limited myself to the first two for my first assignment.

The challenges with this solo are dynamics and articulation. Guidi plays his solo so stylistically, and the end goal of any transcription is match the original as closely as possible. Jazz is so different from what they teach you in classical genres; the lightness and fluidity of the articulation is difficult to master, especially on a flute. In addition, he plays cliches so masterfully, they fit without sounding corny. Because the chords are basically the chords to "There Will Never Be Another You" in C, the harmony is fairly simple compared to other jazz pieces, but that doesn't mean he doesn't play around with it. All throughout, altered dominants are hiding, as well as blues scales and tons of chromatic neighbor patterns. It's a masterfully crafted solo.

And this is only the first half! I have my work cut out for me in the next two weeks as I have to work through humming and playing simultaneously. Look for that in about two weeks! This weekend...something special is coming!